New Miss Teen USA hit by sextortion scam before winning

Social engineering; Unauthorized use of user privileges

Miss California Teen USA, Cassidy Wolf, who earned the title of Miss Teen USA on August 10 was a victim of “a serious cybercrime” that has triggered a federal investigation.

“This all happened before I had a title,’’ Cassidy told TODAY.com. “I was just a normal girl in high school. This next year I’m just so excited to be able to share my story and raise awareness in young teens about what can happen.”

About four months ago, Wolf was notified through Facebook that someone had tried to access her account from another state. She then received an e-mail from an anonymous stranger saying “he was in possession of photos of her that were taken in her bedroom via the webcam on her computer after it was hacked. The person tried to extort her in return for ensuring the photos were not made public.”